sandblaster":1dz6mgru said:
Boogie:
We are overun around here as well. I have a friend who lives about 2 miles from me near the Suwannee River. The hogs come up out of the river bottom and root all over his place. In some of his pastures it looks as if it has been disc harrowed after the hogs go through. He asked me to come on down and help him out and whittle down the numbers.
I was asking about the boars just because I did not want to waste the meat if I get one.
Trapping them starts out fun but then you start getting a bit sick of them.
My first traps were built out of cow panel. The hogs ripped them up. Big boys get their heads through the panels and wiggle until they either die or else they break the welds. So cow panels were a lesson learned that I don't use anymore. Once a hog escapes, it is hard to ever catch them again.
I had enough sense to lay cow panel flat on the ground below my pen but I didn't know they could jump 5 feet. Now I know they can jump 6 foot pens or else climb them. They will actually get onto the back of another hog and jump. It is kind of military style wall climbing. So now I have panels flat on top around the perimiter. Of course, the ones that escaped are now a problem.
I caught deer in my traps. Luckily I was able to release 3 different deer with no consequence. I have trapped my stupid little heifer twice now. Guess she is not as smart as a hog. That is when I started soaking my corn in diesel fuel like they tell you to do on the TexasBoars website.
If you can go down there and bait some holes with corn before you build your traps, the hogs will come to it regularly. It is best to bait near gates or fences such that they are not to leary of your traps when you place them. When you place your traps, cover the entire bottom in dirt such that no wire shows. My box traps are 40 to 42 inches wide by about 40 to 42 inches tall and 5 feet long. I have guilotine gates on them. When I catch a hog I pick up the entire trap with the tractor front bucket being careful not to catch their legs with the bucket (their legs go through the bottoms of the trap). I transport hog trap and all to the pen and put the gate up against the entry gate. I have a divider in the pen with a guilotine gate as well with pulleys that I can open from the outside. I release the hog into the pen and close the door. I then go to the side and open the divider gate and let them into the main pen.
I can rig the side pen to my main pen as a trap. That really helps if you get some sows that come in season. Smart boars can't resist a sow. If you have a sow in season, you'll catch many boars all around the pen.
Good luck catching them. I hope you get a bunch. They have ruint pastures, wrecked fences, and created all kinds of general havoc for me. I don't think I will ever be rid of them for good but I do my best to keep their numbers in check.
Once you do catch one make sure you don't let it get away; it will be a bit wiser next time around.
When you do catch a smart one, watch him in the pens. It is funny. They have escape artist ability but you have to be smarter than they are. The smart ones are the ones that jump on the back of another and try to bound out the top. They try opening the gates. They try all kinds of things. Too bad. I am now just a bit smarter than they are! :lol:
